Today I’m very excited to interview talented professional photographer Beth Salvon of Beers and Beans and her equally-talented journalistic partner, Randy. Earlier this year, while I was writing and publishing my 2 guidebooks to Bali, Beth was busy cooking up her own guidebook, ‘Getting Out of Auto‘, a comprehensive, step-by-step guide on how to take great photos. Naturally, it’s also chock full of stunning photographs.
But that’s not all Beth’s been up to. She and Randy have been out traveling the world, photographing and writing about their adventures on Beers and Beans. They’re currently in Mexico, soaking up tropical sunshine and lapping in clear emerald waters.
Today we learn about their travels, photography, writing, and lifestyle…
Q1: Beth, you’ve been a professional photographer for over 10 years, working in many photographic realms: commercial, fine arts, news, documentary, weddings and travel photography. Which do you like the most and why?
Hmm.. Probably a toss up between travel & weddings. Ultimately travel is my favorite because it gives me the flexibility to go where I want and shoot how I want. And the sky is the limit in terms of creativity. For someone that went to Art school, it floors me that I can actually make money being creative on my own terms. For that reason alone shooting and publishing on the blog will probably always trump anything else. But I do love the energy at a wedding and the honor of being able to capture someone’s wedding day. It’s like capturing non-stop moments all day long, which is really energizing for me. It can be a stressful and exhausting day but overall I like it, including the sore muscles that follow! I think deep down if I was being paid the same amount of money I would choose travel but I would still look for some sort of wedding to shoot on the road on occasion. It would be hard to completely walk away from the feeling I get when I know I just shot a fantastic wedding and that someone is going to treasure those photos the rest of their life.
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Manarola – Cinque Terre, Italy |
Q2: Since I’ve just written and published my own books recently, I’m so curious what you thought about the whole book writing/publishing/marketing process? How long has it taken you to write your book, beginning to end? Did you enjoy the process? What did you find most enjoyable and most challenging?
I loved writing the book. It took about 4 months and there were some times when I didn’t think it would ever end, but overall I really loved it. It was an easy thing for me to write about because I am so passionate about it, but it was tough making sure that I was writing it clearly enough that everyone could understand without sacrificing important details. I also had other people read it, who didn’t have a background in photography, because I discovered it was easy for me to start going on about things from the ideas in my own mind and not that of someone who is just learning. I needed a different perspective to make sure the book made sense to both new and more advanced photographers.
I could totally do without the nitty gritty details at the end though. It seemed every time I opened it up there was something small that needed fixing or I would decide to switch out a photo, reshoot, etc. The last two weeks of small details were draining.
Q3: You’re obviously very passionate about photography. What 3 aspects of photography do you love the most?
I think the thing that keeps me hooked is the moments. The way I see photography is pretty much from an emotional standpoint. If I think about life, I end up thinking back to moments in my life where something major was happening emotionally. Kind of like when you are driving in a car or riding on a train, plane, bus and your mind just starts to wander. You start rehashing those moments to yourself in your head, over-analyzing them, being lost in those minutes of your life all over again. Hours could go by without you even realizing it – being lost in the motion of transit in the outside world and the moments of transit within your own life. That’s a lot about how I feel about photography.
When I’m off in la la land in my head, I see my memories like images. Photography enables me to show that moment or to recreate it from what I see in my mind. I love video too, but there is something about the fraction of a second stopped in time that captures an emotion that keeps me going back to the still photos. It’s like art, imagination & real life all wrapped into one. I’ve been a horrific over-analyzer my entire life and all of my photos are a definite reflection of my life & my feelings. Although,, to be honest, most of the time I don’t even realize the connection until long after the fact. It can happen months later, I can look at them all together and see this major theme emerging and it’s always something that I was feeling but had no idea how to vocalize at the time. Usually it’s a self-derived concept about some sort of personal change.
Going through the photos from Europe last year I noticed I had been shooting a lot of couples and ambiguous people. I didn’t notice this until after we came back from Europe and then as I reviewed them it started to make sense. At the time I was struggling quite a bit with my thoughts about love, what love means, etc. Those issues & emotions inadvertently became the theme of a lot of photos on that trip.
Q4: One year ago, in August 2010, you and Randy set out on a RTW trip. I guess congratulations are in order for a 1-year anniversary. Congrats! Now that you’ve been immersed in travel photography for a year, do you still have a passion for wedding photography?
Thanks for that. I’m not sure we totally qualify though. Initially we had to come home for some previously booked weddings and then, just as we were about to leave for Asia, we had some unforeseen family emergencies pop up. My dad has been very ill and that has kept us stateside for the last several months. He is getting better now so we are heading back out again in September for the next leg.
Yes, I still do love wedding photography. I love capturing other people’s emotions on film. Unfortunately we didn’t book anything for this summer since we were supposed to be abroad, but I know I’ll keep shooting weddings in the future. Normally I’d be booking now for next spring and summer, but because our travels have been cut short this year, we are making it more of a priority to get back on the road. I’ll start booking again after we have more time in the world and are ready to come home for a few solid months.
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| Venice After Dark 11 |
Q5: You still own a wedding photography company in San Diego. How does that fit into your current long-term travel life? Easy to incorporate or does it make itineraries tough?
The initial plan was to book weddings and travel around the wedding dates but it’s become a bit more difficult than I imagined. We did that last year and earlier this year and I discovered it stresses me out.
I have a personal rule that I won’t fly in last minute for a wedding. I just can’t run the risk of anything happening and me not being able to make it. To think about something going awry on someone’s wedding day because of me just makes me sick, so I always make sure that I am in the U.S. at least 3 – 4 weeks before the first wedding. That way if I get ill or anything strange happens with the airlines it gives me enough time to straighten it out.
The other issue is the editing. It takes me at least 3 -5 weeks to edit one wedding. It’s definitely a process and I have tried to cut down on it as much as possible, but there is only so much I cut without sacrificing the quality & feel of the images. So I don’t. It becomes way more than a full time job when I have several weddings to edit and that ends up affecting our travels afterwards. Instead of traveling I really need to hunker down with a lot of coffee and reliable electricity so I can get the editing done. Plus I can’t sit outside at an Internet café because I really need a darkish spot so I can clearly see what’s going on with the colors, brightness, etc. You’d be surprised how hard it can be to find a dark spot with electricity & wifi on the road. These were all things I didn’t even think about until we started adding traveling to the mix.
Overall, going back and forth constantly between travel & weddings creates a bit too much anxiety for me. The only real way to do it is to just stay 6 months or so shooting weddings and then the other 6 traveling. That is most likely what we’ll do in the future. The other option would be destination weddings. We’ve done a couple and would definitely love to do more.
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| Randy writing in hotel room |
Q6: Randy is a journalist. Randy, please tell us more about your background and work. Why do you love writing so much?
I’ve always been pretty shy, but journalism has helped to curb my shyness. You have to talk to people to get the answers you need, so overtime I’ve become more comfortable approaching people or contacting sources for information. For me, one of my favorite aspects of writing is seeing my thoughts and interviewees’ thoughts take shape on the page to become a completely original piece of work that didn’t exist beforehand.
Q7: Speaking of your RTW trip, unlike most people who start their long-term world travels in South/Central America or SE Asia, you guys started out in Iceland, of all places! And then continued on to Europe. Why those destinations?
Europe had to be number one just for one reason – I wanted to track down some of my long lost family members in Lacedonia, Italy. That was the sole purpose Europe was put first on the itinerary. I knew if we traveled elsewhere first we might run out of money and not make it to Italy, which can be a pricey destination. We rolled the dice, spent more in Europe than we would have in Asia, but it was worth it. I found family members and had a once in a lifetime experience with them over the course of three days. Now our Italian family and US family members are connected again after 19 years, and with the Internet we can all stay in touch.
Iceland was the first destination because we found a really cheap flight from Boston to Iceland and we both thought it would be cool. We actually drove from San Diego to Massachusetts before we left so we could leave our dog with my sister and say goodbye to my family. The Iceland flight was only about $200. We didn’t plan on it at all but we couldn’t turn it down – it was a pretty exciting just to book random tickets to Iceland! Turned out we loved it and from there we hopped another flight to London. Then we took trains to Paris and Italy.
Q8: What countries have you visited during your 1st year of world travels? What were your 3 favorite places and why?
Well so far this year we have been cut short so we only made it to Iceland, England, France & Italy.Beth: My three favorite travel spots are Italy, Paris & Iceland. Italy for the family and just the simple beauty of day to day life. Paris for the amazing light that oozes out of every corner and Iceland just for the funky landscape and the intellectual buzz.
Q9: What has traveling together taught you and Randy about each other and your relationship?
I’ve learned that sometimes we can both be a little too serious and I’d like it if we both had a running stash of jokes to tell each other when the other is annoyed over something. I’ve also discovered we can both get a little cranky over mundane things, especially when lack of food is involved. But I’ve learned Randy doesn’t announce it like I do, instead he just gets a little short and annoyed with me until I figure out that he is actually just hungry. We bought a little hat in Venice for our dog and whenever one of us started getting cranky we were forced to wear it in public. We made it a rule and it was great! Hat on – Poof – crankiness gone! Plus we always met people when one of us had the hat on.
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- Beth & Randy in Iceland
Q10: Do you and Randy tend to like traveling to the same kinds of places and doing the same activities? How do you handle differences in interests and so on?
Fortunately, we really like doing the same things for the most part, but when we want to do something the other doesn’t, we just split off for a few hours and do our own thing. Usually, I want to take keep taking photos and Randy is sick of standing around waiting for me so he’ll go off and write or find strange places to hang out.
Q11: Besides what you’ve learned about yourselves as a couple, what are the most important things you’ve learned from long-term travel?
Travel slow – the slower the better. Really it sounds awesome to jet from place to place in the matter of a week but the reality is that it sucks. You spend the bulk of your time lost and trying to get from one place to the next. Slow down and give yourself more time in fewer destinations. You’ll be much happier, you’ll see more, and you’ll save money.
Don’t stress (too much) about the little things. Yes, it may rain while you’re camping in Cinque Terre and you may wake up in a puddle of mud and have to put all your gear away wet and dirty while you stand around getting soaked. Don’t worry, the sun will come out again and your clothes will dry. You may miss a train and stress about your options. The reality is you can usually catch the next train or simply wait a day. Things always seem to work out one way or the other on the road.
Paper & Pen are better than any electronic gadget you have in your bag. Seriously even if you take all your notes on your Iphone in the States be sure you bring a pad & paper with you. It’s great for random doodling but more importantly if you make friends with strangers on a train you can pass it around so everyone can write their contact info in it. You probably would be hesitant to pass your expensive electronics around.
Treat yourself. Being on the road long term is fun but it can take a toll and you really need to take care of yourself. Most long-term travelers are very budget conscious and we are included in that group. In fact, we are almost obsessed with staying on our budget, however a little indulgence can go a LONG way. Maybe it means springing for a hotel instead of a hostel or maybe just a private room and bathroom. It might be as simple as allowing yourself unlimited gelato cones for a day. Whatever it is, sometimes you need to not think about the bottom line and just enjoy life.
Q12: I couldn’t quite make out from your website whether you guys are traveling nomadically and continuously or you’ve still got a base in San Diego, from which you set out on shorter journeys?
We don’t really have a base anywhere. All our mail still goes to San Diego and we have a storage unit there and we are still residents of California, so technically that is our home. Randy’s mother is also in that area and we have good friends there. On the east coast we have my family and all of my college friends. At this point we’re most interested in traveling nomadically and maybe settling in Europe or Southeast Asia for a few months so we can bring our dog, Chachy, with us.
Q13: You mentioned that you’ve decided to travel long-term? Any idea for how long?
As long as possible or until we get sick of it, which I can’t imagine happening any time soon. We are both much happier on the road and less stressed out. We’re in it for the long haul, trying to diversify ourselves with income from photography, writing & the blog. We can also supplement our income with weddings, but neither one of us is planning to settle back into any sort of job where we work for other people or become permanently tied to a location. We want the freedom to work from wherever we are so we can continue traveling.
Q14: What are your upcoming travel plans?
We were planning on just continuing with our original travel ideas which involved spending several months in Southeast Asia, but I think we may actually take a different route. We’ve come across some great opportunities and if they pan out we’ll be going back through Iceland, on to Paris & Morocco and then doing some wwoofing in Serbia. Or we also have another project in the works and if it works out it would land us in Italy for 3 months. In either case, the final destination will still be Southeast Asia!
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Thanks so much, guys, for giving us an in depth peek into your lives. Good luck with your travel plans, and see you out on the road! cheers, Lash
Getting Out of Auto – eBook – Bethany Salvon – Beers and Beans
Getting Out of Auto by Bethany Salvon
If you’d love to improve your photo skills, especially if you need to make the shift from Auto Mode to Manual Mode onyour camera, get Beth’s book! I can’t recommend it highly enough.
Read my review: Getting Out of Auto Review
(* all photos by Bethany Salvon / Beers and Beans, used with written permission. Thanks, Beth! *)
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Follow Beth and Randy on their continued travels, enjoy superb photos and travel stories, and check out Beths’ new eBook to improve your photography:
BeersandBeans.com
TravelThruSanDiego.com
Twitter: @BeersandBeans
Facebook: Beers and Beans Fan Page
Stumble Upon: Beers and Beans
Google Plus: Bethany Salvon
Bsalvon@yahoo.com
Hi! I'm Lash, an American nomadic world traveler who's been traveling solo since 1998. I’m passionate about traveling the world nomadically and then sharing it all with you. I hope to inspire you to travel the world, to entertain you with tales from the road, and to help you reach your travel dreams. Welcome! 
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TRAVEL INTERVIEW ROUND UP: ONE YEAR OF WEEKLY TRAVELERS' INTERVIEWS - LashWorldTour » LashWorldTour
2012/06/22 at 3:26 pm (UTC 8) Link to this comment
[…] Huang of Wild Junket.* Others focus on photography like Gary Arndt of Everything-Everywhere and Bethany Salvon of BeersandBeans* Still others make travel videos, including Nathan and Sofia of As We Travel and Ant and Elise […]